Syria Today | Saudi Arabia appoints new ambassador to Syria

Saudi Arabia appoints new ambassador to Syria

Saudi Arabia appointed a new ambassador to Syria last month in the latest sign of a thaw in relations between the two countries.

The credentials of Abdullah al-Eifan as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Syria were approved by the Foreign Ministry on July 6. Local media reports quoted unnamed Syrian officials as saying the appointment is likely to be followed by a meeting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in Damascus in the coming months.

Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Syria, Ali al-Qahtani, in March 2008 after accusing Damascus of meddling in Lebanese affairs and preventing the election of a new Lebanese president. Relations between the two countries had already taken a sharp nosedive following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a close Saudi ally, in February 2005. Syria was widely blamed for Hariri’s death, an allegation it has always denied.

Earlier last month, Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja, a former ambassador to Lebanon, visited Assad in Damascus to discuss “issues of common interest, especially Lebanese affairs”, the Syrian daily Al-Watan newspaper reported.